Project Details
Projekt
The Significance of Plant Nitrogen Uptake and Metabolism for the Competition for Nitrogen in the Rhizosphere
Applicant
Professor Dr. Heinz Rennenberg
Subject Area
Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
Term
from 2006 to 2010
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 27071968
This project is aimed to characterize and quantify the significance of vegetation components (old growth beech, natural regeneration, other understorey) in the competition for N between plants and microorganisms in beech-dominated forests. For this purpose, competition pattern as well as the molecular and physiological background will be studied in space and time. These studies include the determination of uptake rates and uptake kinetics of NH4+, NO3-, amino acids, and amino sugars, combined with expression analyses of genes of N-transporters and enzymes of N metabolism in beech at the common field sites. In experiments in the field and under controlled conditions (greenhouses and phytotrons) the effects of water supply, N-fertilisation, C-supply, competing understorey, and mycorrhization on N-uptake, -metabolism, and -partitioning as well as the N-nutritional status will be analysed. The significance of leaf vs. root litter as N source for beech regeneration will be determined. In laboratory experiments, the consequences of changing NO and CO2 concentrations in the gaseous phase of the rhizosphere on N-uptake and ¿metabolism will be studied. The results achieved will contribute to system understanding and will partially be used as input parameters for process-oriented modelling of competition for N in a changing environment.
DFG Programme
Research Units
